Method and apparatus for protecting wireless media streams

1. A method, said method comprising: determining if a downlink data packet needs to be transmitted; transmitting said downlink data packet; determining if an uplink data packet has been received; determining if said received uplink data packet was transmitted by a protected station; performing scheduling by estimating a length of a protected portion of a scheduling cycle, said protected portion of said scheduling cycle being an interval reserved for use of said protected station; determining if said length of said protected portion of said scheduling cycle is greater than a length of said scheduling cycle ranking said links in said wireless network, and dismissing one of said links if said protected portion of said scheduling cycle is greater than a length of said scheduling cycle; and collecting data regarding said protected station and said link used by said protected station to transmit said received uplink data packet, measuring an inter-frame interval, and updating a running average of inter-frame interval duration, said collected data and said average inter-frame interval being used to estimate said length of said protected portion of said scheduling cycle.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising: performing physical carrier sensing; determining if a wireless communication is available for use; determining if said protected station needs to transmit said uplink data packet; and transmitting a clear to send message including an address of said protected station and a duration of an interval for use of said protected station.

3. An access point, comprising: a scheduling module which controls access opportunities of protected uplinks and protected downlinks, said scheduling module being in communication with an uplink profiler and a medium access module; said uplink profiler module maintains statistics regarding said protected uplinks, said uplink profiler being in communication with said scheduling module; said medium access module performs actual transmission of data, said medium access module being in communication with said scheduling module; said scheduling module estimates a length of a protected portion of a scheduling cycle, said protected portion of said scheduling cycle being said interval reserved for use of a protected station, determines if said length of said protected portion of said scheduling cycle is greater than a length of said scheduling cycle, ranks said links in said wireless network and dismisses one of said links if said protected portion of said scheduling cycle is greater than a length of said scheduling cycle; and said uplink profiler determines if an uplink data packet has been received, by determining if said received uplink data packet was transmitted by a protected station, collects data regarding said protected station and said link used by said protected station to transmit said received uplink data packet, measures an inter-frame interval and updates a running average of inter-frame interval duration, said collected data and said average inter-frame interval being used to estimate said length of said protected portion of said scheduling cycle.

4. The access point according to claim 3 , wherein said medium access module performs physical carrier sensing, determines if a wireless communication is available for use, determines if a downlink data packet needs to be transmitted, transmits said downlink data packet, determines if said protected station needs to transmit said uplink data packet and transmits a clear to send message including an address of said protected station and a duration of an interval for use of said protected station.